Rights on tap
Some experts now say we are in the third wave, while others say there have already been four waves. ‘There is some debate about the concept of waves,’ says Hülsken. ‘It suggests that feminism comes and goes, but action is constantly being taken for many of the themes. In addition, the comparison with waves gives the impression that the women's movement is a single entity. In reality many movements sometimes acted jointly and sometimes stood up for very specific groups of women, for example for the rights of lesbian women or Black women. These movements sometimes overlapped but also occasionally clashed.’
Still, others argue that we live in a post-feminist era in which the feeling prevails that full equality has been achieved. ‘This neoliberal post-feminist vision does not help to solve persistent problems such as violence and discrimination against women,’ says Hülsken What's more, denying structural inequality can lead to the sudden reopening of discussions about rights that are considered self-evident but which have been hard-fought, such as the right to abortion. 'Unfortunately, we see that many discussions about women's emancipation and gender have an open ending and that there can always be a moment when the rights of women, but certainly also of other marginalised groups, are once again jeopardised. You see this happening at the moment, both nationally and internationally, under the influence of anti-gender movements and parties, as a result of which LGBTIQ+ rights and, in particular, the rights of transgender people are being threatened and restricted. Various politicians label gender as a major danger and a threat to the social order.’
Not just about women
According to Hülsken, this social backlash is currently much less prevalent in the scientific community. She points to the rapid growth of gender studies in recent decades, both in research and education. The Nijmegen research institute Gender & Diversity Studies, which emerged directly from the women's movements of the seventies and eighties and which celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year, has played a special role in this. Nijmegen was the first university in the Netherlands to have a Gender Studies institute. ‘Gender has now become established as a research category in the most diverse fields.’
In the history programme where Hülsken teaches, students are not surprised by the compulsory bachelor's course in gender history in the curriculum. On the contrary: ‘Students are very curious and interested in learning more about relationships between the sexes throughout time and changing ideas about gender and femininity and masculinity in relation to power. Hülsken emphasises: ‘Gender history is about women, but just as much about men and people who do not conform to one of those two binary gender categories.’
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
